Local survivor among those pushing for answers in wake of Amtrak crash

December 02, 2007|By TROY KEHOE WSBT-TV Report

More details are emerging about an Amtrak train collision in Chicago that injured dozens of passengers and crew. Now, one of the people aboard the train from Three Oaks is joining the push for answers, and praising the job rescuers did to ensure everyone made it out of the wreckage alive.

At a news conference Sunday, federal investigators said the train was going about 25 mph over the speed limit just moments before it hit the stopped freight train. The train originated in Grand Rapids and made a stop in St. Joseph and New Buffalo before the accident.

Reute Butler boarded the train in New Buffalo. She wasn't seriously hurt, but she was one of the 71 passengers treated for minor injuries Friday afternoon. Now all of those passengers and the train's crew are recovering back home, and looking back on a day that changed their lives forever.

As the whistle blew, Reute Butler stepped aboard the train car, three back from the massive locomotive pulling her toward Chicago, now just an hour away.

It was supposed to be a simple trip.

"I had a few things to do," she said looking back on the accident over the weekend. "I thought I'd just go and then drive back after dinner."

Turns out it was anything but a simple trip.

Reute was sitting back in her seat with her headphones on when it happened. In an instant, she was jolted forward. Then she saw the woman next to her fly forward and hit the seat in front of her with a sickening thud.

"I just reached down to see if she was all right," Reute said. "She was. She picked herself up. We didn't know what had happened."

That is, until she walked outside and saw it.

One lone thought hit her.

"This is unreal," she said, thinking of the moment she first saw the massive train's engine sitting on top of a freight car. "We hadn't tipped over. I thought Â? it's truly a miracle."

When asked if she thought the train would tip over, she replied, "I didn't think. There was no thinking involved. There was just being there."

But something else hit her even harder as she watched strangers helping strangers. It was a human bond, formed in an instant; suddenly Â? and unexpectedly Â? unbreakable.

"We were all in it together. Everybody did what they could. It brought out the best in humanity Â? the part where we really care for each other," she said.

And despite what may be a life changing experience, Reute says she isn't angry, and holds no blame. In fact, she says she will ride the train again, though it has left her with a strange realization.

"For a train crash, I thought it went pretty well," she said with a smile. "I can't tell you how blessed I feel. I think all of us on that train are truly blessed."

But even though Reute isn't searching for someone to blame, federal officials are. Over the weekend they were able to learn more from the train's data event recorder. A spokesman from the National Transportation Safety Board said it showed the train did switch tracks properly, and the signals on the track were working correctly.

Now, they plan to sort through more than 36 hours of footage from security cameras at the rail yard, that could give them more answers.

"If we uncover information that is urgent in nature or if we find something in the next few days that is a safety deficiency, we can and we will issue an urgent safety writ," said NTSB spokesman Robert Sumwalt.

Investigators expect to wrap up the "on-site" portion of the investigation Monday, but say it could still be several months before they're ready to issue a final cause.